Calvin Miller is adamant Hearts will ignite under Wouter Vrancken as he used the example of Jens Berthel Askou’s Motherwell to show how a new approach can take time to bear fruit.
The Jambos and their new Belgian boss have endured a chastening start to the campaign after losing 6-0 on aggregate to Sturm Graz in the second qualifying round of the Champions League.
Miller felt Hearts showed moments of quality over the two legs, but pointed out that it took time for Premiership rivals Motherwell to catch fire last season as they failed to win any of their first five league games under Askou before becoming one of the strongest teams in the country.
“We’re trying to play a different system, a different style and trying to get everybody drilled to doing the same thing, so it’s hard for the different players in the team to then come in off the bench and try to replicate the same things,” said the former Falkirk winger.
“We’ve only played three or four games (including friendlies), so there’s been limited game time for the boys. It’s just about trying to get what the gaffer wants drilled into what we need to do on the park.
“I think you’ve seen there are moments there; there are definitely moments, it’s just about building on it.
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“But it does take time, and I know maybe you don’t get time up here, but a good example, you look at Motherwell last year, how long did it take them to actually get going there? I’m sure at the start of their pre-season and cup campaign they didn’t really do too well.
“But they stayed with it, and they were drilled and look what they did over the rest of the season, so I’m hoping that’s the same aspect for us, but trying to hit it as quickly as possible.”
Miller could sense that Graz, seasoned European group-stage contestants, were more ready for the physical demands of such a tie, but he is confident Hearts will be strong enough to deal with Saturday’s Premiership opener away to Aberdeen.
“We’re ready,” he said. “They (Sturm) looked really fit, I would say, and so maybe us coming in a bit later due to the manager coming in later could have been maybe a wee bit of a problem in terms of fitness and stuff because we’ve got a big squad here, so everybody really needs to play minutes.
“I felt we just looked a bit tired near the end in the second half, so it’s about getting everyone game time and getting fitness up.
“From what the gaffer said, they (Sturm) have been in the last maybe six weeks compared to us being in three weeks, so I think you could see by the end of the game they looked really strong and fit.”
